Clinical analyzers typically include at least one incubator that is used for the processing of patient samples. A typical “dry” chemistry incubator, for example, is defined by a rotor assembly that includes a single rotatably driven ring having a plurality of circumferentially disposed load stations. Each of the load stations are sized to accommodate a dry element onto which a quantity of patient sample can be metered.
According to at least one version of a dry-type incubator, the slide elements are supplied one at a time to a metering station which is adjacent to the incubator. After sample fluid has been metered, the slide element is shuttled or otherwise introduced into an empty load station of the incubator, such as through use of a reciprocating pusher blade as the rotor assembly advances the next empty load station into position for receiving the next metered slide element.
Various types of sample testing, including potentiometric, rate chemistry, and endpoint tests, may be required for any given patient sample, necessitating both different incubation intervals and test apparatus within the incubator. Therefore, scheduling for multiple types of patient sample tests will certainly and significantly affect the overall throughput of the device. Though several dedicated incubator assemblies could be provided within an analyzer as a potential solution to the throughput problem, there is an equally competing need in the field to keep the overall footprint of the clinical analyzer as small as possible.
Attempts have been made in order to improve the efficiency of incubator assemblies in general. For example, referring to FIG. 1 and as described by U.S. U.S. Pat. No. 5,523,056 to Miller, an incubator assembly 50 includes a pair of vertically stacked rotor assemblies 54, 58, each of the rotor assemblies being accessible to a metering station (not shown) by means of an elevator that permits an additional number of dry slide elements to be accommodated. This vertical arranged stacking, according to the teachings of this reference, saves available space for the analyzer. Other attempts to improve efficiency have incorporated multiple read stations within the incubator assembly to handle the different types of tests that are required.